The Chances

How a 250+ Pound Couch Potato Got Healthy

Tuesday, August 02, 2011

It Begins Again

Phhhh... pshhhhhh... 's this thing on?

Hello. My name is Greg. But you already knew that.

It's been a long time coming, but today's the day. The last marathon I ran was the California International Marathon (CIM) the first week of December, 2010. Leading up to it, I increasingly noticed a problem in my hip, which was annoying, but I could deal with. It was certainly something that would need to be looked at, but I wanted to wait until the marathon was over before seeing the doctor.

I waited a few weeks, but still had issues, so decided I'd go in. I made an appointment with Elite Spinal Care, a sports medicine place in Sacramento, and just before the appointment, had an x-ray done. The x-ray showed nothing.

The doctor started doing regular sessions, using ART techniques and deep tissue massage, but still, there was no relief. Eventually I had an MRI done, and the results: bone bruise in the hip joint. No running, and all indications were that full healing could take up to a year.

Eating badly was a real issue. New Years Day was the worst mentally, I think, in how I was seeing things. Super Bowl Sunday was also a problem. In the end, I had trouble reconciling the necessity of eating right with exercise, culminating in completely backing off of all exercise. Once I gave into that one, the healing began.

This meant the Avenue of the Giants Marathon in May was out. Of course, my camping reservations had already been made, so I volunteered to help at the race. They gladly let me be the guy who told people they were too slow and wouldn't be allowed to finish! So that was fun.

I started exercising again, but the bad habits acquired during the injury made the morning workouts sporadic at best. Finally, I started running again.

I averaged 25 miles a week for a few months, and was starting to feel comfortable with pushing the pace, when I had a recurrence of pain in the hip. At first I thought I might be wrong, but after a few days, it was obviously a problem again, so I backed off running.

That brings us to now. I had already planned on running 3 miles today, and happened to be looking at Hal Higdon's marathon plans, when it hit me: the novice plans are perfect for a slow increase of mileage without pushing the pace too much and risking injury! So at 5pm, I texted Tony Bevis, and ran the first run in the plan with him this evening.


See the activity on RunSaturday
Type:Run - General
Duration:0:33:24
Distance:3.02 mi

Sunday, May 15, 2011

From Twitter 05-14-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com


Saturday, May 14, 2011

From Twitter 05-13-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com


Wednesday, May 11, 2011

From Twitter 05-10-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com


Tuesday, May 10, 2011

From Twitter 05-09-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com


Monday, May 09, 2011

From Twitter 05-08-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com


Sunday, May 08, 2011

From Twitter 05-07-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com


Saturday, May 07, 2011

From Twitter 05-06-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com


Friday, May 06, 2011

From Twitter 05-05-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com


Thursday, May 05, 2011

From Twitter 05-04-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com


Wednesday, May 04, 2011

From Twitter 05-03-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com


Tuesday, May 03, 2011

From Twitter 05-02-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com


Monday, May 02, 2011

From Twitter 05-01-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com


Sunday, May 01, 2011

From Twitter 04-30-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com


Saturday, April 30, 2011

From Twitter 04-29-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com


Friday, April 29, 2011

From Twitter 04-28-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com


Thursday, April 28, 2011

From Twitter 04-27-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com


Wednesday, April 27, 2011

From Twitter 04-26-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com


Tuesday, April 26, 2011

From Twitter 04-25-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com


Monday, April 25, 2011

From Twitter 04-24-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com


Sunday, April 24, 2011

From Twitter 04-23-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com


Saturday, April 23, 2011

From Twitter 04-22-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com


Friday, April 22, 2011

From Twitter 04-21-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com


Thursday, April 21, 2011

From Twitter 04-20-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com


Wednesday, April 20, 2011

From Twitter 04-19-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com


Tuesday, April 19, 2011

From Twitter 04-18-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com


Monday, April 18, 2011

From Twitter 04-17-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com


Sunday, April 17, 2011

From Twitter 04-16-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com


Saturday, April 16, 2011

From Twitter 04-15-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com


Friday, April 15, 2011

From Twitter 04-14-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com


Thursday, April 14, 2011

From Twitter 04-13-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com


Wednesday, April 13, 2011

From Twitter 04-12-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com


Tuesday, April 12, 2011

From Twitter 04-11-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com


Monday, April 11, 2011

From Twitter 04-10-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com


Sunday, April 10, 2011

From Twitter 04-09-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com


Saturday, April 09, 2011

From Twitter 04-08-2011





Tweets copied by twittinesis.com